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Thursday, September 4, 2008

It Starts With One...

Brilliant. It was revolutionary, daring, a dash down the path less taken! I risked my non-conformist rear for the sake of making a statement. As Mike says, "Anything for Atayne." Indeed.

The Nike Human Race was held in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend, and when Mike heard the shirt to be worn by all participants was going to be red...the wheels started spinning.

If you've checked out Atayne's blog (http://thestoryofaredshirt.wordpress.com/) then you're privy to the story. If not, then check it out. But basically, the story began with a disagreement between DC Jeremy and a red performance shirt. Hence, the birth of Atayne...Performance with a Point of View.

What better opportunity to get some good marketing pic's and express a point of view than this?! Slap a brand-spanking new green Atayne shirt on Paige and put her in the middle of 15,000 red performance shirts! The symbolism! Oh, the irony! It was just too good to pass up!

So, while Mike puttered away across the country in his jam packed moving truck, I was trucking it to Soldier Field.

The crowd around me was buzzing. I felt a little weird at first, mostly because I'm not much of a spotlight type (what, does that surprise you?), but also because I was getting a lot of strange looks and whispers as I stood in the crowd. Jason (http://www.jasongeil.com/) was our awesome photog, and did a stellar job. He managed to wrangle a 12 ft. ladder from the cable company that was there filming the event, so that he could get some 'aerial' shots.

Once people started realizing I was being photographed, they were at first a little weirded out, but then the questions starting flowing. "What are you doing?" "Why are you doing this?" "Where's your red shirt?" "Aren't you going to get kicked out for wearing green?" "Can I get one of those shirts?" Ha! It was great! A friend of mine who saw the pic's after the fact stated, "this is fantastic! This is how revolutions get started!"
After some good front-of-the-pack shots were taken (and being featured on the jumbo-tron!), Jason had me move into the crowd with the 9-minute-mile corral so I could run with them for a couple hundred yards and get some action shots. I stood smack in the middle of the corral area and immediately noticed I was being eyed by someone to my left. He was a much older gent, all decked out and ready to go. After a few minutes of him leering at me, he finally asked me where my red shirt was. I said, "what red shirt? Was I supposed to wear red today?" He thought that was funny. So, I explained what was going on. I thought he was going to blow a gasket he was laughing so hard at the irony. He wanted his own Atayne shirt right then. It was his first 10k race, and the longest distance he'll have run to date. I wished him luck as he raced off the line.

All it takes is one. It felt good to stand there in that crowd, the sole green shirt, without the weight of the world on my shoulders :) I had fun, and enjoyed seeing the reactions of those around me.

The first thing Mike says when I called him afterwards, "you didn't wear your pearls, did you?" The Atayne shirt was fabulous enough.

the picture is awesome and the story is even better! I'm glad you plugged it right on your home page b/c i was wondering about it right before i saw your "some people have been asking..." thing with the link.

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Quotes and Musings

"What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for." ~ George Mallory, 1922

"There is a reason in every race to finish it or to quit early; it's a matter of what you choose. I believe the choice you take out there is the choice you're going to take in every aspect of life." ~ Perry Edinger

"Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself." ~ Lululemon

"If you start to feel good during an ultra, don't worry, you'll get over it." ~Thibeault

"The core of a man's spirit comes from new experiences." ~Chris McCandless

"Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you." ~Chris McCandless

Must Reads

"Life of Pi" Yann Martel

"No Shortcuts to the Top" Ed Viesturs

"Omnivore's Dilemma" Michael Pollan

"The Alchemist" Paulo Coehlo

"Crossing to Safety" Wallace Stegner

"Merle's Door" Ted Kerasote

"The Way of the Peaceful Warrior" Dan Millman

"Running Through The Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon" Neal Jamison

"Buddha" Deepak Chopra

"Into The Wild" John Krakauer

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Buckle Envy

Ever wonder what all the hundo buckles look like? Click on my buckle to find out!